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Lisa Morton is a doyen in the world of Manchester PR.
She’s the founder and CEO of PR and marketing agency Roland Dransfield, which she named after her mentor who got her into business at the age of eight.
“He bought me a bucket and sponge and told me ‘you’ve got a car washing round’,’’ she recalled. “He taught me about repeat customers, attention to detail and raising your prices on the back of good performance.”
Morton, who once sold ladybirds in matchboxes to make money, founded her PR company in her 20s while juggling raising two young children.
“It was terrifying,” she said. “I thought ‘if I lose the business I’ll have no way of feeding my kids. What do I do?’”
Morton also told the Northern Leaders podcast about the repeated sexism she endured, especially at the start of her career.
“When I was about 22 I went to a big board meeting and got cheered,” she recalled. “When I look back and think about what it was like for a young woman back then, there was a huge amount of sexual harassment and prejudice and some encounters that you kind of brushed aside but were in fact horrendous. I’ve gone home from events before now when I was younger and cried my eyes out.”
In her mid-20s one client even asked her to lie naked on a slab for a music video!
“I do think it’s better now but it’s not completely sorted itself out,” she said.
Morton identified some of the business leaders she most admires, including former footballer-turned-businessman Gary Neville, and lists her perfect dinner party companions.
Host: Chris Maguire, executive editor, BusinessCloud
Producer: Ellice Street, What Media
Contact: Chris Maguire [email protected]
Listen to the podcast on Spotify; on Apple Podcasts; or watch the interview on YouTube below.